Psychotherapy & Counselling

Counseling and psychotherapy in Italy: A profession in constant change

by Marco Gemignani

Maintaining the illusion of love

by Simon Boag

Boag, S. (2007). Maintaining the illusion of love [Review of the book Demystifying love: Plain talk for the mental health professional]. PsycCRITIQUES-Contemporary Psychology: APA Review of Books , 52 (31).

‘Do you hear what I hear?’ Client Voice in the evaluation of counsellin

by Simon Boag

Ward, S. & Boag, S. (2009). ‘Do you hear what I hear?’ Client Voice in the evaluation of counselling. Australian Journal of Counselling Psychology, 10 (1), 12-21.

The Client Voice paradigm places clients’ experiences, perceptions and feedback at the heart of psychotherapy and... more The Client Voice paradigm places clients’ experiences, perceptions and feedback at the heart of psychotherapy and psychology, in a similar way to the consumer satisfaction movement in mental health and medical services. The present study examined the impact of using the Client Voice Client paradigm to guide qualitative service evaluation by contrasting the findings with a standard quantitative assessment. To explore this, 30 callers to a Telephone Helpline in Sydney were randomly allocated to a quantitative measure (Counsellor Perception Measure, CPM) or a newly-developed semi-structured qualitative interview designed along Client Voice principles (Telephone Counselling Questionnaire, TCQ). Five meta-themes of counselling service evaluation that emerged demonstrated an apparent high congruence between both the quantitative and qualitative measures. However, clients also reported concepts of personal significance not included in the CPM items. Additionally, participants found difficulties with the CPM due to the assumption that the evaluation-terms had uni-dimensional meaning, and instead produced diverse meanings in association to the evaluation-terms. The findings from this study suggest that the utilisation of Client Voice principles in conjunction with qualitative service evaluation provide superior service-evaluation information. Suggestions for further improving service evaluation are discussed.

Sexuality and Physical Disability: Exploring the Barriers and Solutions in Healthcare

by Tinashe Dune

People with physical disability and/or chronic illness are more likely to seek medical help than their typical peers.... more People with physical disability and/or chronic illness are more likely to seek medical help than their typical peers. Once pressing matters related to their condition are addressed clients may pay attention to how to incorporate the management of their health condition into other aspects of their lives (i.e., sexuality). This paper discusses inhibitory and facilitative experiences that people with physical disabilities may encounter in their interactions with healthcare workers and systems when adapting to changes in their sexuality. Sexual health models (i.e., PLISSIT, Kaplan, ALLOW and Bitzer et al.) for people with chronic illness or disability are summarized and analysed for their value in relation to contemporary health needs. This paper posits that healthcare providers and people with physical disabilities can learn from and teach each other in order to promote positive and agentic constructions of sexuality with significant disability.

Reactivity and Reactions to Regulartory Transparency in Medicine, Psychotherapy and Counselling

by Gerry McGivern

McGivern, G. & Fischer, M. (2012) ‘Reactivity and Reactions to Regulartory Transparency in Medicine, Psychotherapy and Counselling’. Social Science & Medicine, 74 (3) 286-96.

We explore how doctors, psychotherapists and counsellors in the UK react to regulatory transparency, drawing on... more We explore how doctors, psychotherapists and counsellors in the UK react to regulatory transparency, drawing on qualitative research involving 51 semi-structured interviews conducted during 2008–10. We use the concept of ‘reactivity mechanisms’ (Espeland & Sauder, 2007) to explain how regulatory transparency disrupts practices through simplifying and decontextualizing them, altering practitioners’ reflexivity, leading to defensive forms of practice. We make an empirical contribution by exploring the impact of transparency on doctors compared with psychotherapists and counsellors, who represent an extreme case due to their uniquely complex practice, which is particularly affected by this form of regulation. We make a contribution to knowledge by developing a model of reactivity mechanisms, which explains how clinical professionals make sense of media and professional narratives about regulation in ways that produce emotional reactions and, in turn, defensive reactivity to transparency.

Meaning-centered counseling

by Paul T. P. Wong

Teaching and transformation: A psychoanalytic perspective on psychotherapeutic training

by Dr Rosemary Rizq, PhD.

Published in British Journal of Psychotherapy (2009) 25, 3: 363-380

While there has been much recent interest in the impact of organizational structures underpinning psychotherapeutic... more While there has been much recent interest in the impact of organizational structures underpinning psychotherapeutic training (e.g. Davies 2008; Kernberg 2006), there has been curiously little interest in the impact of interpersonal dynamics on the process of teaching psychotherapy. In this paper, I draw on my experience as a university lecturer and tutor on a postgraduate counselling and psychotherapy training programme to explore some of the unconscious dynamics underpinning the psychotherapy trainee’s development towards a mature professional identity. The implicit expectations that trainee psychotherapists hold at the start of their training are initially discussed; I then turn to psychoanalytic writers such as Bollas, Winnicott and Jessica Benjamin in an attempt to articulate and explore how trainees may progress from relating, to constructive use of their tutors in their quest for personal transformation and professional recognition.

tread softly again a response

by Dr Rosemary Rizq, PhD.

Published in Counselling Psychology Review (2008)

Straddling the contradictions: Understanding and conceptualising the role of attachment status in counselling psychologists' accounts of personal therapy

by Dr Rosemary Rizq, PhD.

Published in European Journal of Psychotherapy and Counselling (2011)

This article aims to explore some of the tensions and dilemmas of combining different qualitative methods in a single... more This article aims to explore some of the tensions and dilemmas of combining different qualitative methods in a single study. The author presents a sample of results from recent research exploring the role of attachment status in counselling psychologists’ experiences of personal therapy. Participants were interviewed twice: once using Main and
Goldwyn’s Adult Attachment Interview, coded for reflective function (Fonagy, P., Target, M., Steele, H., & Steele, M. (1998)); and subsequently using a semi-structured interview format, analysed via interpretative phenomenological analysis, to explore experiences of personal therapy. Meshing results from both sets of data raised interesting questions about how to reconcile interpretations drawing on attachment theory with phenomenological, experience-near descriptions of personal therapy. Drawing on neo-pragmatist philosophies, the author considers how participants’ accounts can be seen to interrogate the professional view that personal therapy is an indispensable part of psychotherapeutic training. The value of retaining a pluralist perspective within qualitative research is recommended.

'There's always this sense of failure': an interpretative phenomenological analysis of primary care counsellors' experiences of working with the borderline client

by Dr Rosemary Rizq, PhD.

This qualitative study explores the experiences of five primary care counsellors working in the NHS with clients... more This qualitative study explores the experiences of five primary care counsellors working in the NHS with clients identified as diagnosable with borderline personality disorder (BPD). Participants completed a semi-structured interview about their experiences of clinical work with BPD clients. Interview transcripts were analysed via Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) and three master-themes were identified: recognition and implications; managing feelings of inadequacy; and managing dilemmas in the primary care context. Despite struggling to manage feelings of failure evoked by these clients, counsellors described feeling a sense of ethical responsibility, and adapted the traditional short-term model of counselling to ensure clients received ongoing, supportive work. Whilst guidelines propose that BPD is best managed and treated in secondary care and specialist services, this study found that counsellors are working with this complex group of clients in primary care and require specialist supervision and support in managing unconscious process issues emerging from the work.

The research couple: a psychoanalytic perspective on dilemmas in the qualitative research interview

by Dr Rosemary Rizq, PhD.

Published in European Journal of Psychotherapy and Counselling (2008)

The relational, collaborative values of the qualitative research paradigm frequently require us to consider sharing... more The relational, collaborative values of the qualitative research paradigm frequently require us to consider sharing the ongoing analysis of data with our research participants for comment and feedback. However, qualitative researchers may experience some tension between balancing participants’ narrative accounts with
their own analytic perspective and use of psychological theory. In using a psychoanalytic framework to explore this predicament, this paper adopts the notion of the ‘research couple’, analogous to the psychotherapeutic ‘analytic couple’, to consider possible oedipal dynamics within the qualitative research interview.
The paper explores some of the emotional and ethical tensions in analysing and presenting research results and briefly discusses some implications for research training.

Counseling Supervision Review

by Daniel Keeran MSW

by Daniel Keeran, MSW

This form is used by Counseling Supervisors at the 6 month and year-end point of the one-year period of supervision... more This form is used by Counseling Supervisors at the 6 month and year-end point of the one-year period of supervision for Intern Counselor members of the College of Mental Health Counseling http://www,collegemhc.com

Supervisors should be familiar with the College training manual to understand the content acquired by the Intern Counselor. The manual can be reviewed here http://www.amazon.com/Effective-Counseling-Skills-therapeutic-statements/dp/1442177993

Lesbian and Gay Affirmative Psychotherapy: Issues in theory and Practice,

by Martin Milton

Milton, M. and Coyle, A. (1999) Lesbian and Gay Affirmative Psychotherapy: Issues in theory and Practice, Sex and Marital Therapy: The Journal of the British Association for Sexual and Relationship Therapy,  14(1) 43-60

Psychotherapy and Sexuality: A New Era?

by Martin Milton

Milton, M. (2003) Psychotherapy and Sexuality: A New Era? Proceedings of the Malta Union of Professional Psychologists Biennial Conference

Counter-transference Issues in Psychotherapy with Lesbian and Gay Clients

by Martin Milton

Milton, M., Coyle, A. and Legg, C. (2005) Counter-transference Issues in Psychotherapy with Lesbian and Gay Clients, European Journal of Psychotherapy, Counselling and Health, 7 (3) 181-198.

Understanding human distress: Moving beyond the concept of ‘psychopathology’

by Martin Milton

Milton, M., Craven, M. and Coyle, A. (2010) Understanding human distress: Moving beyond the concept of ‘psychopathology’, in M. Milton (Ed) Therapy and beyond: Counselling psychology contributions to therapeutic and social issues, Wiley Blackwell: Chichester

Social Issues in the Counselling Process

by Martin Milton

Published in Counselling Psychology Review (1993) 8(1) 20-26

Exploring the Place of Technical and Implicit Knowledge in Therapy

by Martin Milton

Milton, M. and Corrie, S. (2002) Exploring the Place of Technical and Implicit Knowledge in Therapy, Critical Psychology, Psychotherapy and Counselling

Sexual identities: Meanings for counselling psychology practice

by Martin Milton

Hicks, C. and Milton, M. (2010) Sexual identities: Meanings for counselling psychology practice, in R. Woolfe, S. Strawbridge, B. Douglas and W. Dryden (Eds) Handbook of Counselling Psychology, Sage: London

Treatment of specific phobia in older adults

by Nancy Pachana

Phobias are common in later life, yet treatment research in this population remains scant. The efficacy of exposure... more Phobias are common in later life, yet treatment research in this population remains scant. The efficacy of exposure therapy, in combination with other Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT) components, in the treatment of specific phobia with a middle and older aged sample was examined. Sixteen adults aged 45–68 with DSM-IV diagnosis of a specific phobia received a manualized intervention over ten weeks, and were compared with a control group. Results indicated significant time effects in the treatment group for the primary outcome variables of phobic severity and avoidance as well as secondary outcome variables including depression and anxiety. Symptom presence and severity also significantly declined in the treatment group. No significant changes in state anxiety were noted across the treatment period. Such results provide support for the efficacy of exposure combined with CBT treatment for specific phobia in middle to older aged adults.